This week in Michigan history: Reagan accepts nomination at RNC in Detroit

Jul. 14, 2013

Written by

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

The gathering at the still-new Joe Louis Arena ran through July 18; Mayor Coleman Young called it “a very special moment in the history of our city.”

Ronald Reagan was nominated the GOP’s presidential candidate on the third day of the convention. Montana’s 20 votes gave him the party win, though his final total was 1,939 votes, with Illinois Congressman John Anderson a distant second with 37. The former California governor’s daughter, Maureen Reagan, cast California’s 168 votes for her father.

But there had been talk of a Michigander appearing on the ballot. Rumors swarmed that Reagan had been in talks with former President Gerald Ford to serve as vice president in an arrangement dubbed a co-presidency. The Grand Rapids native told newsman Walter Cronkite, “I would not go to Washington ... and be a figurehead vice-president.” In the end, the No. 2 spot on the ballot went to George H.W. Bush.

The other Wolverine State politician to capture some of the limelight was U.S. Rep. Guy Vander Jagt, R-Luther, who gave the keynote address and was thought to be a contender for the vice presidential pick.

The Republican National Convention drew tens of thousands of attendees and members of the media (including 2,000 who stayed across the river in Windsor, which spent $500,000 on promotional efforts) as well as a few celebrities, most notably movie star Elizabeth Taylor who accompanied her then-husband U.S. Sen. John Warner of Virginia.